Street mailboxes for a private house: design ideas

Despite the fact that the world has been overwhelmed by technical progress and real paper letters are increasingly being replaced by an electronic option, street mailboxes for a private home are still indispensable attributes. It seems that the mailbox is so standard that you do not even have to think about its appearance. However, if you show at least a little imagination, an ordinary box for receiving letters and correspondence can turn into a real work of art, which will become a bright decoration of the exterior. Today, "House of Dreams" offers several ideas for the design of mailboxes.

What are

mailboxes The most common in the post-Soviet space is a mail box made in the form of a rectangular box that is attached to a fence near the gate or to the wall near the entrance door of a country house. Letters and correspondence fall into the mailbox through a horizontal slot at the top of the product, and the contents are seized by opening its bottom, door, or lid. Such a box is made of metal, more rarely - of wood. It is most convenient to fasten the standard mailboxes on the fence so that the postman can convey the correspondence without hindrance. Also, this mailbox is suitable for apartments. In this case, it can be fixed directly to the door.

Historically it so happened that a street mail box for a house in Europe or America has a radically different appearance. In these countries, mailboxes are used not only to receive, but also to send letters. If there are letters in the box that need to be sent, the postman takes them and puts them in the mail, after which they will be delivered to the addressees. Accordingly, for the postman to see that there is correspondence in the box that requires delivery, it was necessary to come up with some kind of sign. In America, this question was solved with the help of the checkbox. On the side of each mailbox a small flag is attached - if it is omitted, then there are no letters for sending, if the flag is raised up - the postman must look inside. In addition, in Western countries, a street mail box is not attached to a fence or a wall, but is installed on a lawn near the road, using a vertical support.

The form of an ordinary American mail box resembles a horizontal container with a semicircular lid. However, recently in America, you can rarely find mail boxes for standard forms. The fact is that in many American states, contests are held annually for the most original mailbox, to which residents are trained with utmost care. Therefore, in these states you can see mailboxes made in the form of animals, fairy-tale characters or even grandiose garden sculptures.

A slightly different, but no less interesting, mailbox design is used in the UK.Residents of this country try to stick to the stylistic unity in everything, therefore the characteristic English mail box resembles a miniature house built of bricks or made of any other materials. In the UK, a street mailbox for cottages or houses is set straight to the ground. Since in this country the territory of a country house is very rarely blocked by a fence, the box is near the front door.

3 ideas for decorating a mailbox

1. Drawings on a drawer

A home mailbox that is attached to a fence or wall, often looks unremarkable and of little interest. However, if you look at this attribute from the other side, it can become a kind of canvas for the creation of artistic masterpieces. On the metal mail box you can put any picture: from the simplest ornaments and inscriptions, to reproductions of famous paintings. Of course, to create more or less complex images you need to have at least a minimum of artistic skills. However, to simplify your task, you can use a variety of stencils. To the drawing, put on the mailbox for a country house, soon did not deteriorate because of the precipitation, the surface of the product must be pre-primed with a thin layer. The drawings themselves are best applied using acrylic paint.

Also standard mailbox can be decorated with a napkin for decoupage. To do this, its surface must be treated with a primer, and then glue the selected napkin or part of the napkin onto it using PVA glue, top with varnish.

2. Mailbox in the form of a house

If you do not know how to draw, but like to make, you probably will make a box for newspapers and correspondence in the form of a house. Such an attractive attribute is recommended to be made of wood. If you want to make a metal mailbox, you will also need to master the welding skills.

A wooden house mailbox is almost the same as an ordinary birdhouse. You will need boards of the appropriate size, saw, knife, nails and glue. Ready-made box-house can be painted or decorated with any additional elements, for example, flowers. Such a box will look nice both on the counter and on the fence. However, like any wooden product, the box needs to be treated with protective means, especially if you are making a mail box for a dacha.

3. Ornaments for a mailbox from brushes

To make a beautiful mail box, you do not need to have any special skills. For example, the box, which is depicted in the following photo, is decorated with the help of ordinary paint brushes, pencils, colored beads and small wooden emblems. Thanks to the interesting layout, this box looks unusual and, most importantly, exclusively, but it's done quite easily. However, for your exclusive mailbox to last as long as possible, use the most reliable adhesive. If desired, the surface of the box itself can be slightly "aged" using a special paint or putty. In addition to its originality, such a box will become a real symbol and a home guard.

To decorate the mailboxes, you just need to connect the imagination, because any jewelry is suitable for any items. For example, you can decorate the box with forged items, a composition made of large crystals or wooden figures. Also, you can attach to the sides of the box containers in which you can grow flowers or store Christmas decorations.

Generally, for Christmas and New Year, as a rule, the mailboxes are transformed, it became already the same familiar and pleasant tradition as decorating the door with a Christmas wreath. Spruce branches, colorful ribbons, Christmas toys, Santas or Santa Claus, snowmen and other decorations are easy to apply for festive decoration of boxes.